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| Lake
of Gekcha / Sevanga and Qajar's Azerbaijani Iravan Khanate, Tsar Russia's Map of Transcaucasia in 1801 - 1813, published in Tiflis, 1901, Legend in Russian. |
In Classical Antiquity the lake was called Lychnitis Lacus, (Ancient Greek: Λυχνῖτις), meaning blue and transparent water.
The lake's name has Sasanian origin and derives from Pahlavi (Middle Persian) Sivāng-e/ Sivān.
Notably, the name of the Hrazdan River (Pahlavi: Hurazdān, Azerbaijani/ Turkish: Zangi/ Zanga çay), which flows out from the lake, is derived from the Middle Persian name Frazdān, which is related to Zoroastrian mythology. Frazdān is the lake's name mentioned in the Avesta (Frazdānu). Frazdānu is composed of the elements "fraz“ elevated, high, and "dānu“ river. "
Lake of Gekcha or Sevanga
The Russified name Sevanga originates from the Middle Persian Sivāng-e.
The Armenized name Sevan is a corrupted form of the Russified name Sevanga, which derives from the Middle Persian Sivāng-e.
Sources:
- The Caucasian region in 1801- 1813, The Head-Quarter of Russia's Caucasian Military District, Tiflis, 1901, Legend in Russian, available at: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Map_of_Caucasus_1801.jpg
- Adontz, N. "Armenia in the Period of Justinian. Political Conditions based on the Naxarar System", tr. N.G. Garsoїan, Galouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon. 1970, pp.529.
- Allen, William Edward David; Muratoff, Paul. "Caucasian Battlefields: A History of the Wars on the Turco-Caucasian Border 1828–1921", Cambridge University Press. 1953, p 9. ...Lake Sevan (A. Sevan; T. Gök-çay; 'Blue water').
- Bosworth C. E., (1986) “ARRĀN,” Encyclopedia Iranica, II/5, pp. 520-522, available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/arran-a-region
- Graesse, J. G., Orbis Latinus, "Lexikon lateinischer geographischer Namen des Mittelalters und der Neuzeit Großausgabe", Band II, E – M, Braunschweig, 1972, vol. 2, p. 434, available at:
- Ghodrat-Dizaji M., Ādurbādagān During the Late Sasanian Period: A Study in Administrative Geography, Iran, Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies, 2010, Vol 48, issue 1, 69-80, https://doi.org/10.1080/05786967.2010.11864774
- Marquart, J. 1901. "Ērānšahr nach der Geographie des Ps. Moses Xorenac‘i, mit historisch-kritischem Kommentar und historischen und topographischen Excursen", Weid mannsche Buchhandlung, Berlin.
- Minorsky, V., “Caucasica IV,” BSOAS 15, 1953, pp. 504-29
- Russell, J.R., “Armeno-Iranica,” in Papers in Honour of Professor Mary Boyce II, Acta Iranica 25, Leiden, 1985, pp. 447-58
- Semenov, Petr Petrovič (1873). "Geografičesko-statističeskij slovarʹ Rossijskoj Imperii: Pavasterort – Sjatra-Kasy", Volume 4 (in Russian). Bezobrazov i komp. p. 532. "Sevanga, ozero, Erivanskoi gubernii, Novobayazetskogo uezda", sm Gokchinskoe, (Севанга, озеро, Эриванской г-іи, Новобаязетскаго у.; см. Гокчинское).
- Woods, John E."The Aqquyunlu: Clan, Confederation, Empire", University of Utah Press, 1999, pp 352. "...Lake Gökçe (Sevan) in Armenia...”
- Map of Khanate of Erivan in 1809-1817, available online at https://picryl.com/media/khanate-of-eriwan-in-1809-1817-d371ef
- Map of Russia's Military Operations in Transcaucasia from 1809 till 1817, showing local borders under the Treaties of Gulistan and Bucharest, (Карта военных действий в Закавказском крае с 1809 по 1817 год, с границами по Голистанскому договору и Бухарестсткому миру), available online at https://runivers.ru/upload/iblock/558/174748.png
